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Gareth Price

Project Finance International (PFI) has named Allen & Overy as Global Law Firm of the Year, highlighting that it has put some “serious distance between itself and its global competitors” as it described A&O as “the world’s foremost law firm for project finance.” The win follows PFI’s 2018 legal league tables in which A&O came top globally for the eighth time in nine years, last month.

20th December

Commenting on this accolade, global head of A&O’s project finance practice Gareth Price said: “It’s a great achievement that our global projects, energy and infrastructure team continue to be independently recognised as the leader for project finance expertise. We are very grateful to our clients for giving us the opportunity to work for them on many of their key investments around the world and also to our incredible team whose talent and commitment to our clients and each other lies at the heart of our continuing success.”

The vibrant project finance market in South-East Asia gave A&O the opportunity to advise on landmark projects such as the Nghi Son 2 IPP in Vietnam, the Jawa 1 gas-to-power project in Indonesia and the Nam Theun 1 hydropower plant in Laos. Commenting on the success the firm has had in Asia-Pacific, Gareth Price continued: “Over recent years, we have made significant investments in our Asia-Pacific team. This year is the first time we have taken the top spot for Asia-Pacific over the past ten years, so this is a real highlight for us and reflects the quality of our team throughout Asia-Pacific. Beyond South-East Asia, advisory mandates on some big Australian deals such as the WestConnex and West Gate Tunnel and our key client relationships in North-East Asia also added to the volume of deals which helped us to secure the number one spot.”

In Europe the firm closed 35 deals worth more than USD14 billion, including the Hornsea offshore wind farm in the UK, the Tours-Bordeaux HSR in France and the Borssele project in the Netherlands, various large-scale airport refinancings and M&A deals, and the Dutch Blankenburg tunnel. The Middle East and Africa remained strong markets for the firm as it advised on the Duqm Refinery in Oman, the BAPCO modernisation project in Bahrain, the Nachtigal Hydro Plant in Cameroon and the Indorama Eleme Fertilizer Plant Refinancing & Expansion in Nigeria.

Concluding, Gareth Price commented: “We are also very excited by the quality of the team we are building in the Americas.We have long been known for our ability to cover international projects from our team in New York, Washington and Sao Paulo, but our strength in US domestic transactions is under appreciated. For example, in the past twelve months we have advised Dutch Infrastructure Fund on the acquisition of the American Roads LLC portfolio and CONRAC Solutions Capital LLC on the development and financing of a joint use facility at Newark International Airport. Our recent appointment to advise the consortium of Lufthansa, JAL, KAL, Air France, Carlyle, Ullico and JLC Loop Capital on the redevelopment of JFK further emphasises our place as a leading adviser on energy and infrastructure transactions in the U.S.”